Nydia M. Velazquez: “this resolution is a waste of time. Why do my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to stall the budget…”

“this resolution is a waste of time. Why do my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to stall the budget process? I thought that the clock was ticking for us to enact a balanced budget, which I support. In the rush to pass a fiscal year 1998 budget, the Republicans are setting up another scenario for last-minute legislation. In that rush, the most vulnerable populations will be targeted again for the highest spending cuts and the lowest assistance. It is remarkable how far the Republicans will single out poor families. The deadline grows near for our national budget to be balanced. Note that my Republican colleagues have not submitted a budget proposal. They must not be serious about negotiating a balanced budget agreement. What is their strategy now? To shut down the Federal Government again? Remember, it did not work before; it will not work again. I ask my colleagues to consider the human face on this debate. Consider Miguel Pena from Brooklyn, a 72-year-old Dominican legal immigrant with mental illness who will lose his SSI disability benefits within months because he is not a citizen. He, like hundreds of thousands of other legal immigrants, has no other source of income. Consider the 30 percent of the 30,000 Hasidic children in Williamsburg who will lose their Federal assistance. Consider Maria Rodriguez, 27 years old, a legal secretary with two children and no subsidized daycare options.”